Has it been four months already?

Today is the 4th month anniversary of XuXu's "gotcha day". And this will sound cliché... but maybe that is why it rings true... where did the time go?!?! and then also... it's only been four months?!?! China seems like forever ago and yesterday at the same time. XuXu is new to our family and seems as if she has always been here.

Here we are celebrating her first Independence Day as an American citizen at the "Push'em Pull'em" parade that happens every Fourth of July in our little beach town.



She has grown so much and in so many ways in the last four months. In China she could walk but was wobbly, now she is steady and almost running, learning to jump, climbs everything, and dances. In China she had 8 teeth and was just starting to get 2 molars, and now she has 16 teeth! Now she eats anything when at first she would only eat things that were of a baby food consistency. She is saying English words and adding new ones to her vocabulary every day. She is even starting to put two word sentences together. She is even using a little Chinese (she didn't before). She says "Ni Hao" (hello) and "Piao Liang" (pretty). She always says "piao liang" after I put her hair in pigtails or put her in a dress... so cute! Oh... did I mention that her hair is long enough now to put it in pigtails.



XuXu is also sporting quite the Cali-girl tan.


She has become a water baby and loves to play in the pool, tub or ocean.


She has gone from waking up crying several times in the night and waking up crying in the morning to sleeping soundly and waking up happy. She has definitely grown taller and heavier, I'm sporting the biceps to prove it. She is so much more confident and curious and content. What amazing things can happen in four months and right under our noses.

I have watched many children change and grow... from my son Zion and daughter XuXu, to nieces and nephews and the kids of my friends. It always seems like a miracle. When Bill and I had just started dating our friends Bill and Rhonni had their first son Billy. This year he graduated from high school and just left home to spend a year in London before starting college and turns 19 in the fall. It's stunning to remember the little baby whom I held the hands of to help him learn to walk and then think of the tall, intelligent, talented, and Godly young man that he has become. It takes my breath away. I also think, "I'm that old.. I have watched a child grow up?!" And then I think of my own babies as grown and gone and it really chokes me up... makes me want to be a better mom... and savor every ounce of childhood that is left. I'm going to go steal a kiss from my sleeping angels now.